"There is a major design flaw in these things!"

Who designed the men's/boy's bathing suit? That's my question for the day. But before I expound on why I want to know, let me tell you how it went at the American Embassy...We were there around 7:30 this morning and left around 11:30. We were given crazy favor with the people who were reviewing our case. They approved all of our visa requests in spite of the fact that we didn't have all the required paperwork! Even though it was very stressful trying to contain all the kids in the waiting room(mainly by MJ, because I was in the office with the case worker), we're so blessed. They pushed everything through with just my 'word' on a few things, without written documentation. That's favor! And that journalist, that I told you about a couple of days ago, spent about 45 minutes with us getting our adoption story while we waited. A photographer also took a bunch of shots of the family while we went through the process. It was cool getting to share what the Lord has laid on our hearts with them. When we got back to the hotel we fed the kids real quick and headed off for the beach. We had been trapped inside for almost 3 straight days and we had already had several meltdowns (kids and parents!) so it was time to get out! Let me say this... I know that yesterday I made the comment that Rio wasn't that pretty, but let me retract that statement. The places we passed yesterday on the way in weren't pretty but the places we saw today were beautiful. They have some amazing beaches and the scenery along the coast is breathtaking. When we got to the beach the waves were huge. There was a very strong undertow so, we couldn't really swim out far. But we stayed for about 4 hours and the kids loved it! They had never been to the beach before. They stayed in the water the whole time running back and forth trying to run from the waves and trying to avoid getting sucked back out to sea by the current. It was fun. So, back to my question... who designed the men's/boy's bathing suit? Does anyone know? I know in theory it 'sounds' like good idea, but that little underwear that is sewn into men's/boys bathing suits can really put a hurting on a guy. You know, that stuff made out of that net-like material? I know it allows water to flow through but did they ever think it might keep the sand in? It's like it acts like a big sieve that strategically removes the water while retaining those nice little sharp granules we know as sand! And I don't know about you, but I don't like being rubbed raw with every step I take because I'm carrying a dump truck load of sand around in the bottom of my specially designed aquatic underwear! Or maybe they should have at least put a warning label on them? It could say, "best used in swimming pools and lakes. Avoid using at the beach, at all costs, because it could cause severe chaffing and makes it difficult to walk if warn in salt water environments." I don't know, it's just a thought. I actualy had to take off Gabriel's bathing suit right there on the beach so that I could dump all of the sand from his pockets and underwear. And on the way home... it was funny. I wish you could have seen all of us boys (8 total) walking back from the beach after wearing our bathing suits with the net-like underwear... it was like we had just stepped off of the ranch after a long day of riding horses! We were all walking bow legged because we were rubbed raw! So thank you whoever you are... you, who designed our special mesh underwear inside our swim trunks.

Tomorrow we don't have anything scheduled. We will go to the Embassy on Friday and pick up the passports with the visas stamped in them, then we head for the airport and it's off to Atlanta! It looks like we're going to make it after all. So, thanks for all the prayers.

Love ya,

Rubbed Raw in Rio